Ichinen Kuchiki
| birthday = October 21 | age = 600yrs | gender = male | height = 6'0" | weight = 180 lbs | eyes = Red | hair = White | blood type = O- | affiliation = , , | previous affiliation = | occupation = 4th seat to the 11th division of the Gotei 13 | previous occupation = | team = | previous team = None | partner = None | previous partner = None | base of operations = | marital status = Single | relatives = Unknown | education = | status = Active | shikai = Banpaia | bankai = Not Yet Revealed}} Ichinen Kuchiki is the visored currently holding the position of fourth seat within the eleventh division of the Gotei thirteen. Appearance Standing at an even six feet tall (1.8 Meters) Ichinen has a pale complexion set over a body of hard, slim muscle obtained through countless hours of martial arts and combat training over his six hundred years as a soul reaper. His shaggy, yet silky smooth hair is snow white and at a length that causes it to constantly fall into his eyes, which are their own unique shade of a deep ruby or blood red. Ichinen's face is somewhat angular overall, his nose is on the small side though it seems to fit perfectly amidst his determined eyes and almost always scowling mouth. His outer-most layer of clothing is a perfectly white Yukata with light blue designs on the undersides of the lower sleeves. These designs are that of white counter clock-wise swirls set against a light blue background that fades the further down the sleeve it goes. The same design scheme can be seen on the lower sides of the bottom of the kimono typically around the calf and shins. This Yukata is belted with a black sash around his waist sitting in stark contrast to the white around it and is always cast off his right shoulder letting his right sleeve pool freely around his waist which then hides the sheath for his black hilted, Tanto zanpakuto. Beneath this unique Yukata Ichinen wears a black red lined more form fitting short sleeved shirt with a red trim that matches his eyes, this shirt has a permanently popped collar that rests just over his chin. His pants match his shirt being black with red trim which feed directly into black boots instead of the normal shinigami sandals, these boots buckle just below and just above the knee with black belts. The boots add about half an inch to his over all height. Mask Ichinen's mask has the basic general shape of a large feline. The mask consists of the basic contours of a felines face with a protruding nose and top section of the jaws. The top two canines protrude down past the bottom of the chin much like that of the saber tooth tiger. Where you would expect to find ears upon the average feline you instead find two sets of two curved horns the higher of each set is thicker all around while the lower of each set follows a slimmer design. There is about an inch gap between any point of the higher and lower horn within each set.There is another small protrusion on either side of the face where ones cheek bones would sit which sticks out past the back of the rest of the mask coming to points on either side. The only colors upon this mask are the base coat of white and a color of blood red. The red takes the shape of several scrawling lines the vast majority of which are concentrated on the right side of the mask where as on the left the lines all seem to reach toward the eye from varying distances. Personality Normal In his normal State Ichinen is usually conservative when it comes to emotional responses. He shows little to no real interest in his own or anyone else's emotions unless he can use them to gain access to a new or more challenging fight. Ichinen lives to fight, he blames it on his internal blood lust but Kenpachi has said that the desire to fight comes off him in waves meaning that battle is part of his very being. Ichinen frequently battles within his own division and outside when possible, he is prone to go off on his own to hunt down hollows and even went so far as to venture straight into Hueco Mundo alone without so much as telling a soul other than the ones who he needed to send him there, this being Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He returned several days later saying he had fought to his limit to which Zaraki simply stated "Already?" before turning his back and walking away. Ichinen seems to have no real regard for rules or the "sanctity of life" he will follow the rules laid out before him if they don't stop him from fighting and even then he will never break the rules if the consequence is losing the ability to fight. His only fear in death is that he would never fight again. He dreams of one day becoming strong enough to battle Zaraki on equal footing and perhaps even killing him. He doesn't care about reaching captain or even the title of Kenpachi, he just knows that Zaraki would be his greatest test. One of Ichinen's most awkward traits when thrown in with the rest is his fierce loyalty to his division and captain. He is loyal to Zaraki Kenpachi above all others including the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13, even though he dreams of one day killing Zaraki in battle. He does not see this as a breach of his loyalty because it would be settled in a battle, something both he and Zaraki love so dearly. He hopes that their battle can push Zaraki to the brink of death at the very least to bring him as much happiness as possible before the battle is over. The few times he will show emotion it is usually anger. This anger is not only directed at others, as a vast majority is directed toward himself. Ichinen truly hates his blood lust, and he hates the feeling of being out of control. Even when in battle, he takes pride in the fact that he believes he controls the outcome and it is just a matter of time before his enemy falls to his blade or fist. To have all of that taken away by another side of himself causes him agony at times even when that very thing is what saves his life. It is his deepest conflict. Blood Lust In his blood lust state Ichinen's battle hungry side takes over completely. He shows ample disregard for any and all systems of rules and regulations as-well as any signs of caring who is turned into collateral damage along his way. This state is prone to maniacal laughter as-well as frequent shrieks and screams while he attacks. This form relies on instinct and muscle memory for the most part as-well as raw force. There are almost no intricacies or use of kido however in this state of mind Ichiden transcends the normal limiters that tell you "Don't do that or you'll damage yourself." allowing him to use 100% of his strength and spirit force at the cost of his own body which of course he doesn't even notice until he is back in his right mind once more. Abilities and Powers Skilled Swordsman Ichinen wields his sword one handed much like his Captain does but where Zaraki uses brute force Ichinen uses explosive speed to make up for his lack of super human strength. Most of his attacks are, in fact, several rapid strikes that are cast fast enough to appear to be a single movement. Even when blocking, Ichinen is prone to using several lower impact hits to comprise a strong enough combined force to push back the opponent. Growing up in District seventy seven, the fourth most lawless of all the districts. It was here that he learned how to use a sword, though he started as most children do, with a stick. Using just this stick he was able to outfight and outclass many of the children and became the target of many of the older boys, even many adults. All of them, who at one time or another would try to fight and kill him. Ichinen never recieved any proper training until his time at the Shino Academy where he was tought and fell in love with Zanjutsu the art of the sword. Much like his captain, Ichinen prefers to fight while wielding his blade with only one hand as opposed to two. That being said, he does not share Zaraki's percieved hatred for Kendo as he will use it from time to time and he appears to be proficient in this form of sword play aswell. Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant Seemingly contrary to most other shinigami, Ichinen prefers to use kicks when in close quarters combat as opposed to punches, this however is not to say that he can't use his fists as he has extensive training in this form of combat as-well. He explains his preference by saying that he uses his speed to his advantage and since he gains speed by his legs' strength, why not use them in combat as well. Ichinen had next to no actual hand to hand combat training until he was brought into the Kuchiki clan (something about some sibling being a member and telling his wife to find his brother after his death). It was there that Ichinen met Yoruichi Shihoin. Yoruichi didn't so much train him as he heavily annoyed her, so she frequently beat the crap out of him. This treatment led him to learn how to block and counter many of her attacks even inadvertently learning the basics of Shunpo within this time though Yoruichi has mentioned that he still lags far behind her in this craft. Enhanced Strength Ichinen is physically powerful but his raw physical strength is dwarfed by several within his division, as he relies on his speed and agility while in his normal form. Once in his blood lust state however his force is greatly increased as-well as his overall speed this form lets him bridge the strength gap between himself and many of his fellow shinigami. To compensate for his lack of raw force (with the exception of his exceptionally strong legs) Ichinen has learned a method that manipulates ones reiatsu in such a way as to infuse it into ones muscles to grant immense strength for short bursts of time such as the time it takes to block another's strike, or to strike another. This grants him a period of surprising strength that can quickly be transferred from his legs to his arms and back within seconds, allowing for a very versatile ability. That being said, this skill is still raw and tends to cause damage to his body if he uses it for more than a few seconds at a time. High Spiritual Pressure Ichinen possesses a higher than average amount of spiritual pressure though it is prone to fluctuate wildly if he pushes his limits in either kido use or other forms of combat. It was this fluctuation that attracted Yachiru Kusajishi stating " you might be able to make Ken-chan smile". His reiatsu is black. Ichinen holds a rather large spiritual pressure but he tends to keep it as tightly compressed around him as possible. This is to say that while Zaraki's spiritual pressure can be felt from miles away it is felt as the same from one inch away from him as it is miles away. Ichinen's spiritual pressure only can be felt in relatively close quarters to his physical body but due to it being so compact it feels much stronger. If a shinigami's reiatsu were water from a hose then most would have the nozel set to mist throwing their spiritual pressure over as wide an area as possible. Ichinen would be considered as using the jet setting keeping all his spiritual force within an area of about twenty feet from his body. Using this to his advantage as it causes his adversaries to feel as if the very air were weighted, slowing them down. Blood Lust The secondary feature that assured Ichinen a position within the eleventh division is his seemingly insatiable blood lust once angered. Ichinen seems to completely abandon all forms of defense once he has entered his state of Blood Lust and it was this wild fighting style that caught the attention of Zaraki Kenpachi. Once in this state, Ichinen's entire style seems to change as he swaps from strings of rapid strikes to singular high spiritual density strikes, usually causing his blade to pick up a black aura. Almost every strike causes excess reiatsu to leap from his blade causing damage to surrounding structures and people. Ichinen has absolutely no control over himself once he enters this form. In this form he stops discerning between friend and foe and just attacks whatever he feels like attacking. This is the very reason that he has no partner within his division as it is safer and simpler for everyone if he is sent on missions alone whenever possible or sent with a shinigami of a higher power level than him. Enhanced Agility Ichinen has an incredible base agility and speed due to his immense leg strength. When in his blood lust form, a fraction of his spiritual pressure is converted into his strength and focused throughout his body as needed, easily moving from his legs to his arms at a moments notice to first propel him toward his enemy before adding force to his strike. His near constant bouts with Yoruichi Shihoin among many many others have acted as a constant reminder that he is not a physically powerful as many other shinigami and as such he has focused on improving his speed instead. He has proven he can outpace many of the seated officers within his own division, though several are still faster than him. Kido Barriers and Seals Practitioner Ichinen has a basic understanding of Kido but never thought to pursue this combat type any further as he heavily favored the destructive abilities of Hado techniques claiming that "anything to bind or restrict my enemy is shameful, it's as if I am saying that they are too strong for me to handle." While forced to train in this type of Kido Ichinen focused on learning the incantations, so he would know what spell was going to be cast and how to interrupt the opponent to turn their spell against them. He did this frequently enough that his instructors eventually just told him to leave and skip this training unless he was going to come back and actually learn the spells themselves, so currently it is unknown what barriers and seals he can actually cast, but he does have a wide knowledge of the incantations needed for each spell within this category. Hado Practitioner Ichinen's absolute favorite of the Kido types he excelled in Hado. In complete opposition to his actions while learning the other two branches of Kido Ichinen showed the utmost interest and attention to each and every word on the subject. He quickly memorized the incantations to every spell up through the 70's even though he had nowhere near the skill to use them, he simply figured that when he reached the skill level it would be better to already be familiar with the words than to have to suddenly try to learn a new incantation. Ichinen has shown the ability to cast Hado up into the low thirties without needing the incantation but it is unknown exactly how high up he can go with the incantations before he reaches his limits and the spell fails, though he has stated that he has yet to gain the ability to use spells like Hado Number 63 Raikoho and a higher level Kuchiki favorite Hado Number 73 Soren Sokatsui though he seems to desire that amount of power. Within this category, his favorite spells seem to be ( in order of lowest level to highest) Hado number 1 Sho, Number 4 Byakurai, Number 11 Tsuzuri Raiden, Number 31 Shakkaho, Number 32 Okasen, and in keeping with Kuchiki training, Number 33 Sokatsui being able to cast all of them without the need of an incantation though he does sometimes use one to amplify the spells power. Bakudo Practitioner Ichinen's feelings about Barriers and seals is reflected in this branch of Kido aswell once again deciding that if it isn't destructive he has no true use for it. Though he did learn one of the techniques to a rather large and powerful extent. This spell is Bakudo number 8 Seki (Repulse), a simple ball of blue energy which repels whatever strikes it. Ichinen used Seki frequently to repel bakudo spells of much higher ranks from other students while in training but since he refused to learn or even observe any other spells he was once again told to skip this section as his instructors did not want to waste their time trying to teach him something he had no intention of learning. He did however continue to practice Seki, pouring more and more power into it to repel even Hado techniques. Cero Ichinen's cero is the typical deep red laser that almost all hollow, arrancar, and seemingly any visored can fire. To launch his cero Ichinen holds either hand at about arms length from his body with his pointer and middle finger aimed at his target leaving his ring and pinky fingers curled into the palm of his hand while his thumb stays straight up. In this position his cero charges. When firing his cero, he drops his thumb and rocks his hand back imitating a gun's recoil. This cero can be fired from either hand at will. Hollowfication Ichinen has a pretty firm control over his inner hollow, though he only uses his hollow form if he would die without it. He initially started his training to control his inner hollow simply because he wanted the power boost it would grant for when he eventually fought Zaraki. He managed to finish the internal battle against his hollow in just over twenty minutes meaning that only two of the visored had to battle his hollow form before he was able to win out over it. Ichinen has a very unique way of summoning his mask, as when called it doesnt appear on his face, head, or even in his hand. When initially summoned Ichinen's mask appears on his right hip, he then has to pick it up and place it on his face to gain the abilities that come with it. Once properly positioned on his face he gains the typical enhancements all visored receive after they don their masks, enhanced speed, strength, increased reiatsu, augmented abilities, and the ability to seemingly ignore almost any damage their body takes. All of these abilities obviously contribute toward increasing his outright fighting power but the most potent is the ability to ignore damage he takes. He may fight to his hearts content without having to worry about feeling pain until after the battle is over. This allows him to fully enjoy it. Zanpakuto Sealed Ichinen's Zanpakuto's name is Banpaia (vampire in English). In its sealed state Banpaia is a simple tanto blade with a black hilt. Its tsuba is circular and on closer inspection shows a dripping design in a deep red which blends into the black tsuba. Shikai Banpaia is awakened with the simple phrase of "Drink deeply Banpaia." When in its Shikai form Banpaia takes the shape of a Nodachi in which the three foot blade, hilt, wrappings, and even the Tsuba is a solid shade of black. There are red markings along the entirety of the blade that turn a bright red when its ability is activated, these designs when lit take on the appearance of blood running down Banpaia's blade. Abilities The shikai has the unique trait is that it causes whatever it cuts to flow. In battle this ability is used to cause cuts made by Banpaia to bleed profusely and without any ability to stop it, causing massive blood loss and eventual death if the wound is not treated using rapid healing or another method, simply bandaging the wound wouldn't stop the blood flow. As the blade passes through another's reiatsu it forces that reiatsu to flow in all directions causing more and more spiritual pressure to be sapped from the opponent over time, eventually draining them. This ability stacks upon itself, meaning that every single time it cuts through reiatsu it will spread from that spot, as-well as along every other cut. This applies to the body as well, causing the opponent to bleed indefinitely from every wound leading to either death by massive blood loss or the loss of consciousness via the draining of their reiatsu. To a lesser extent this zanpakuto can be used to cause lower scale landslides if the user cuts at an instable piece of ground thus causing it to naturally flow downhill, this effect will work on the sides of buildings aswell. Bankai Ichinen strives to reach the level of Bankai so he can properly challenge his captain Zaraki Kenpachi. He is however very far from learning this ability. History Ichinen was born to a pair of poor, young residents of district seventy seven. They took care of him as well as they could for the first three years of his life before they were both killed by a robber, Ichinen himself isn't really sure why the robber didn't choose to kill him as well. Although its not like he could go tell anyone about it, such things were as common as breathing in such high numbered districts. None the less he was left to live and not much is known about his life for the next four years. At this point Ichinen suddenly reappeared in his district wielding a stick he openly picking fights with anyone he could usually beating them senseless but leaving almost all his opponents alive. By the time Ichinen had reached his early teens there was no one in his district around his age that would stand up against him, even the more petty criminal adults steered clear of him. Their avoidance only proved to render Ichinen bored as he set his sights on the stronger more violent criminals in his area, mainly murderers. He had many bloody battles in which he rarely sustained many if any injuries while inflicting massive damage for it seemed no one could match his speed. Unbeknownst to him, he had slain his parents murderer toward the beginning of this pursuit though he never declared he was looking for the man. After a few more years Ichinen picks a fight with a bald shinigami that had entered his district, this proved to be both a horrible mistake aswell as the start of a series of events that lead him to his current standing within the Gotei 13 for this shinigami was Ikkaku Madarame. Ichinen challenged Ikkaku to a brawl which he lost quickly and clearly, by the end of this fight Ichinen was barely conscious and probably would have been killed if an order hadn't forced Ikkaku to return to the court of pure souls. Ichinen spent the next several months healing and training. The next time Ichinen was heard from was roughly four months after his fight with Ikkaku, at this point Ichinen was in a blood rage and simply destroying everything he could lay his hands on. He rampaged for several days before another shinigami appeared and seemingly effortlessly subdued him explaining that he was to return to the court of pure souls and join the Kuchiki Clan. Hearing this Ichinen couldn't help but laugh telling the shinigami that he must have him confused with someone else. The shinigami insisted that he had the right man and if he wanted to get stronger and stop squandering what little power he currently had he would come with him. Ichinen eventually gave in saying that he wanted to become stronger. Ichinen was almost immediately enrolled in the Shino Academy in which he excelled in Zanjutsu and the Hado branch of Kido but refused to learn almost any other kind of Kido save a few seemingly random spells. He was openly kicked out of both his Seals and Barriers as well as his Bakudo lessons. There was even talk that if it weren't for the fact that he held the Kuchiki name he never would have made it out of the academy though such rumors were quickly squashed by the Kuchiki family themselves. It was within the academy however that his spiritual pressure first caught the attention of Yachiru though it was seemingly ignored until years later when a friendly bout with Ikkaku triggered Ichinens blood lust state in which the battle was kicked into a whole new gear and quickly drew fight lovers like Zaraki and on his shoulder Yachiru who reportedly smacked Zaraki's shoulder and said something about her heart skipping a beat in response Zaraki laughed. After Ichinens graduation from the academy he is alerted that the eleventh division wanted him and knowing their reputation as brawlers and fight lovers he eagerly agreed. He was quickly sat low in the rankings much to his dismay. He spent the next two hundred or so years slowly climbing the ranks but he was still stuck at around the tenth seat. It was at this point that he was contacted by Urahara Kisuke who offered to turn him into a visored as a sort of lab rat. Ichinen agreed and secretly made the transformation, he was then taught how to control his hollow by Shinji once again in secret. His debut as a Visored was the day he openly challenged one of the 4th seat holders in his division. He fought on par with his opponent until he put on his mask, the resulting leap in power tilted the match in his favor but he apparently found fighting in that form boring. He has not challenged a single opponent of a higher rank than him since he took this position and it is believed that he wont until he believes he can fight them without having to use his hollow powers. History Synopsis (Important Events) *October 21st Ichinen is born in district seventy seven. *At the age of three both his parents are murdered by a robber. *By the age of seven Ichinen begins openly challenging and fighting both children and adults. *Ichinen (early teans now) has asserted his dominance over nearly everyone his age in his district and sets his sights higher. *Ichinen fights with Ikkaku and for the first time in his life he loses badly, barely landing a hit on Ikkaku. *Ichinen wreaks havoc in his district after recovering from his loss to Ikkaku. *Ichinen is found and brought into the Kuchiki family. *Ichinen starts his training at the Shino Academy *Ichinen's spiritual pressure first attracts Yachiru. *Ichinen's blood lust state is seen by Zaraki during which Yachiru alerts Kenpachi that "her heart skipped a beat". *Ichinen is recruited into the eleventh division and sets his dreams on fighting and killing Zaraki Kenpachi. *Ichinen becomes a visored and after gaining control of it earns the 4th seat in the division. Category:Male Category:Kido Users